Footprints of Faith Cambridge Walks

Footprints of Faith is a programme of Cambridge walking tours, developed to support the RE curriculum and encourage cross-curricular links with other key subjects, in particular science and history. Many world-leading pioneers in scientific discovery and social reform have lived and worked in Cambridge over the centuries. Many were inspired by their faith, which the Footprints walks explore. Schools can book a guided walk at any time in the year on the theme of Human Rights or Science, or they can undertake their own walk using the Footprints of Faith resources. The walks have been adapted to be suitable for KS1, KS2 and KS3 children.

In October as part of Black History month, pupils from Coton Primary School took part in a Human Rights walk to discover the key part Cambridge played in the anti-slavery movement. At the Round Church, they heard the story of freed slave Olaudah Equiano and his connection to Chesterton; his book describing his experience of slavery shocked the nation and fired the abolitionist movement. William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, both students at St John’s College, took up the fight, and the children visited the chapel to discover their stories. At each stop, they explored ideas and issues raised by the stories through writing and drawing activities. Clarkson was inspired by an essay competition about slavery set by Peter Peckard, Vice-chancellor of Cambridge University and preacher at Great St Mary’s, the last stop on the walk, where children had the exciting opportunity of speaking out against present-day slavery from the pulpit, following in Peckard’s footsteps.

Coming soon

There will be a special focus on Footprints Science Walks throughout March 2018 to coincide with Cambridge Science Week. On these walks, children will encounter the stories of great scientists, including Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, who was revered by Einstein for his groundbreaking work on electromagnetism, and Ernest Rutherford, who has been called the Father of Nuclear Physics.